Hackling machine



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June 25, 1929.

June 25, 1929.

A. KOBINE HACKLING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet Filed Dec. 2o, 1928 June 25, 1929. A KOBNE 1.?18365 HACKLING MACHINE Filed Dec. 20, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 June 25, 1929. A. KoBlNE HACKLTNG MACHINE Filed Dec. 20, 1928 5 sneets-sheet` 4 i ma @moW/f/Wm June 25, 192'9. AfKoBlNE A 1,718,365

- K HACKLING MACHINE Filed Deo. 20, 1928 5 Sheets-sheet 5 Patented June 25, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,718,365 PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXIS KOBINE, OF 11027301?, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 ROBERT BOBY LIMITED, OF BRY ST. EDMNDS, ENGLAND, A BRITISH COMPANY.

HACKLING MACHINE.

Application led December This invention relates to machines for hackling flax, hemp, jute and analogous tibres, such machines being of the kind in which the stricks of fibrous material to be hackled are exposed to the action ot pins or combs carried by endless revolving or travelling sheets operating on both sides of each strick. In such machines as usually constructed the operative part of the travel of the pins is that in which they are moving downward; the stricks are gripped by holders which are caused to rise and tall between the sheets, and in the -falling movement the material accompanies the pins on the sheets moving in the same direction, and the pins penetrate the material without hackling it; the holders then pause for a i'ew seconds during which the pins hackle the material; then the holders rise, dragging the already hackled material. upwards against the downwardly moving pins. Thus instead or" the gradual penetration which takes place in the process of hackling by hand labour, the pins or combs in these machines as usually arranged abruptly penetrate the fibrous material while. it is falling, the speed of hackling then varying as the holders rise and fall or remain stationary before the period of reversal Vof their stroke, and consequently different portions otl the same strick receive treatment ot' varying intensity, which is in some cases too severe and causes breakage or' the libres. It has been proposed, however', to carry the stricks through the machine in a substantially horizontal direction without vertical reciprocation, and to impart to the operative surfaces of the hackle sheets movements to and from each other both at their upper and lower ends, the bottom rollers first approaching each other, then the top rollers so that the action of the sheets extends progressively up the strick, then the bottom rollers re`- cede from each other, and finally the top rollers recede to release the strick; thus the active portion ot' the sheet travels in a straight line throughout the hackling process.

The purpose of this invention is to enable a hackling machine to act. on the material in a manner more nearly resembling the manner in which it is treated in hackling by hand labour.

According to the invention means are provided to vary the distances between the ends of the pins of the revolving or endless travel- 20, 1928, Serial No. 327,357, and in Great Britain July 18, 1927.

ling sheets on opposite sides of the strick and therefore their action on the material at all parts of the length of the strick during the haekling process, by causing portions of the sheets intermediate between the upper' and lower rollers to be protruded beyond their normal paths, so that the said portions of opposite sheets approach each other at the beginning of the cycle of operations in order to engage the strick. This protrusion may be ett'ected by tangential or radial arms or cam actuated mechanisms arranged to engage the inner surfaces of the sheets at the beginning ot the cycle of operations, without moving the lower rollers. In order to compensate or the increase in the periphery or the sheet involved by this protrusion towards the opposite sheet, and also to widen the gap between the upper parts of the two sheets at the time the gap between their intermediate parts is thus narrowed, the upper rollers are arranged to move in inclined guides and are supported by springs. 4-

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into etect, the same will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying' drawings, in which i Figure. l represents in front elevation a machine embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is an end elevation ot the gearing of the said machine taken from the left hand side, viewing Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end eleva-tion of the gearing ot the said machine taken from the right hand side, viewing Figure l.

Figure et represents a transverse section taken on the line L14 in Figure l, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows adjacentv to the said line, with the operative parts in the position they occupy at the beginning of the cycle of operations.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but with the operative parts in the positions they occupy at an intermediate phase in the cycle et operations.

The stricks are carried on an intermittently moving gripping belt or chain, the mo vement-s of which are co-Ordinated with those of the mechanism for varying the action of the pins on the strick.

As one end ot each Strick is gripped by the chain while the exposed parts are being hackled, it is necessary in order to complete `the hackling process to reverse the hold of the chain on the sti-ick, so that the end of the strick that was formerly held by the chain out of the field of action shall hang freely to be hackled in a second operation. The manner in which itis considered preferable to accomplish such repeated treatment of the stricks is that frequently used in analogous machines, namely, to employ two counterpart machines connected in tandem to be driven at the same speed, two endless gripping chains being employed, that is, one for each machine, and the arrangement of the said chains being` such that when the first chain releases a strick the second chain grips the opposite end of the strick and allows its untreated portion to hang down freely, The machine illustrated in Figure l may be taken to be the second machine, and portions of the chain of the first machine are seen at the right hand end of Figure l. The first machine would be similar to the second machine, except that its frame or bed would be made higherto cause the operative parts of the first machine to stand at a higher level, say about six inches higher than those of the second machine. The

chains employed may be of the type described in the specification of Patent No. 1,589,732.

A indicates the frame of the machine generally, B the main shaft of the machine which is caused to rotate by power from any convenient source. The main shaft of the first machine, which is in the same vertical plane but at a higher level, is suitably geared to the shaft B so that the two machines operate in unison. This shaft B drives one of the travelling endless sheets directly and is operatively connected by suitable gearingwith a-countershaft C which drives the other of suchsheets. It is immaterial as to which sheet is driven directly, but both sheets must be caused to travel at the same speed. Through gear trains diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 2 the shafts B, C drive intermediate shafts D, E; the shaft D transmits notation to a cam shaft or stud F, and the shaft E transmits rotation to a cam shaft or stud G. Each of the shafts D and E carries a series of tangential arms H of adjustable length, on the free ends of which arms are rollers h1 engaging the inner surfaces of the travelling sheets J, K in theposition seen in Figure Ll. The cam shafts F and G control the positions of the top carrier pulleys M, N of the sheets, and the shaft F actuates a weighting motion hereinafter described, while the cam shaft G controls the intermittent movements of the gripping chain P. A rubber or other belt l enters they channel of the chain P and is caused by frictional contact with the said chain to travel along With it. The chain P passes over pulleys 791, 792 one of which is driven intermittently while the other rotates freely. The belt R passes over freely rotating pulleys r1, r2, r3, r4, rs, r6. Portions of the chain S and belt T of the first machine are seen at the right hand side of Figure l. The machine is provided with the usual rotary brushes for removing tow from the sheets J, K, needle drums or doffers for stripping the brushes, and angle beaters on oscillating bars worked by eccentrics or other suitable means to strip the dolfers, these parts, which are well known and need not be further described, being driven by suitable gearing from one of the shafts. The sheets J, K are similar to those usually employed in hackling machines; the sheet J comprises belts represented at jl, jg, jg in Figure l, these belts being perforated with holes y in which en teeth jf on sprocket wheels j on the shaft B, and the sheet K is similarly driven from the shaft C. Longitudinal bars j?, 7:1 (Figures a and 5) secured to. these belts carry 'the hackles; these bars and hackles (except as regards one bar) are omitted for the sake of clearness in Figure l.

The carrier pulleys M, N are mounted on shafts fm?, al which are supported at their ends in blocks m2, n2 adapted to slide in inflined guides m3, ai* on the machine frame. Springs m4', n4 tend to draw the blocks, and with them the pulleys, into the positions indicated in Figure a, but cams f1, g1 on the shafts F and G. respectively acting against these springs press the blocks and the pulleys M, N towards each other atia later period in the cycle of operations (see Figure 5), when the opposing surfaces of thesheets (l, K are straightened out between the sprocket wheels and the carrier pulleys. Devices for regulating the tension of the sheets passing around the carrier pulleys are represented at m5 and of.

Beside the cam g1, a largercam g2 is secured on the shaft G (see Figure 8) this cam g2 being adapted to rock an arm g3 pivoted on a shaft g4 in the machine frame, this arm carrying a pawl g5 engaging a ratchet wheel g rotatable on the same shaft g4, and onv the said shaft and rotating with the said ratchet wheel in an intermittent manner is a bevel .wheel Q7, in gear with a bevel wheel g3 mounted on a shaft g" which carries the pulley p2 and by the consequent intermittent rotation of the pulley 792 a movement or travel of the chain P is effected. The shaft (/9 also carries a sprocket wheel (not shown) which by means of a chain transmits rotation to another sprocket wheel (also not shown) and pulley S1 whereby chain S is caused to travel.

Beside the cam fl a sprocket wheel f2 is secured on a shaft F (see Figure 3) which by means of a chain f3 drives a sprocket wheel f4 on a shaft f5 on which latter is also mounted a small cam f6. A bent bar WV is pivoted at w1 in bearings on the machine frame, and is provided with a bowl or roller wg adapted to be engaged by the nose of the cam f6 to lift the bar W. This bar rests'on the chain P while hackling is going on and increases the grip of the chain on the strick. At the moment when the pins on the sheets J, K disengage the fibre, the cam f6 lifts the bar l/V off the chain, when the next forward movement of the chain ensues. Some power is exerted in lifting the bar, but the motion of the chain and belt absorbs much less )ower than the hackling operation, so that the load on the driving mechanism is equalized by this weighting motion or regulator.

When the stricks which have been hackled for a part (say two-thirds) of their length in the similarly operating irst machine arrive on the chain S at the pulley 81, their hackled ends which hang from the back of the belt T become gripped betwen the chain P and belt R. The ends which are gripped between chain S and belt T, not yet hackled, become released at the same time, fall, and hang freely in front of belt R to be hackled by the second machine. The chain P carries the stricks through the central slot al of the machine step by step, say several inches at each revolution of the cam g2, with intervening pauses, until after passing the pulleys p1, r2, the paths of the belt and chain diverge, releasing the hackled libre, which is removed from the machine in any convenientmanner. In their passage through the machine each exposed part of the strick is repeatedly hackled, the cycle of operations being as follows The cams f1, g1 and rollers 72.1 being in the positions seen in Figure 4, and the bar W in the position seen in Figure 3, the chain P is stationary, the sheets J, K in the descending parts of their paths first come into contact with the strick between the two rollers h1, the top pulleys M, N being drawn apart by their springs m4, n4 and also slightly lowered to compensate for the increase in the dimensions of the sheets between their descending and ascending sides enforced by the outward pressure of the rollers h1, the inclined arrangement of the guides of the top pulley shafts permitting this compound receding and descending movement of the said pulleys. As the shafts turn in the directions indicated by arrows in Figure 4, the rollers h1 go out of contact with the sheets, and the cams f1, g1 cause the pulleys M, N to pass up their inclined guides and approach each other as seen in Figure 5. When the orbital movement of the rollers k1 approaches completion, the cams f1, g1 allow the pulleys M, N to recede to disengage the strick, the cam f6 lifts up the bar IV, and the cam g2 sets the chain P in motion to move the stricks into the next position to be again hackled preferably by liner and more closely set pins. Vhen this cam g2 goes out of action, the position represented in Fig'- ure 4 is restored and another cycle can begin.

A portion of the outer surface of each sheet is preferably left blank or free from pins, as a safeguard against accidental engagement of the stricks at the time when it is necessary for the stricks to move forward, the blank portions of the respective sheets being indicated at ja and 708 in Figures 4 and 5, but this blank portion is not essential and is not claimed as a feature of this invention.

The tangent-iai arms H on the shafts D, E may be replaced by radial arms, or by cam actuated mechanism.

Vhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. In a hackling machine of the type described, having oppositely arranged endless sheets travelling between upper and lower rollers and carrying pins adapted to operate on opposite sides of a strick supported by gripping mechanism arranged to travel in a horizontal direction between said sheets, means for varying the action of said pins on said strick during the period oftheir operation thereon, said means comprising mechanism adapted to intermittently force portions of said sheets intermediate the upper and lower rollers out of their normal paths and toward one another, whereby said portions of the opposite sheets are caused to approach one another at the beginning of their period of operationon said strick.

2. Apparatus according to claim l wherein the mechanism for intermittently forcing the sheets out of their normal paths comprises rotatable members operatively connected to the lower rollers.

3. Apparatus according to claim l wherein the mechanism for intermittently forcing the sheets out of their normal paths comprises rotatable members adapted to engage the inner surfaces of the sheets and force portions of them toward one another.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the provision of upper rollers arranged in inclined guides, said rollers being adapted to recede in said guides to compensate for the protrusion of the sheets out of their normal paths.

5. Apparatus according to claim l characterized by the provision of upper rollers arranged in inclined guides, springs for drawing said rollers inwardly in said guides to compensate for the protrusion of the sheets out of their normal paths, and cam members operatively connected to the lower rollers and adapted to force said rollers outwardly in said guides against the action of said springs when the sheets are returned to their normal paths.

ALEXIS KOBINE. 

